Culture

Christian Protesters Have Occupied The PM’s Office Calling For An End To “Inhumane” Detention

"What’s the point of [his] eloquent words if we continue to institutionally abuse women, children, and men?”

by Meg Watson  14 October 2015

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Earlier this year, to mark the tenth anniversary of John Howard’s decision to release all children from immigration detention, 40 Christian leaders parked themselves in the foyer of Parliament House to hold a vigil and sing songs in protest of our nation’s current treatment of asylum seekers. Then, the nation had the strange experience of watching them all — nuns, bishops, and generally lovable old folk — being removed from the premises by security.

If you missed it, here’s a little of the reckless tomfoolery in action:

Christian leaders make a space of lament/hope to call for the Australian Parliament to release children and their families from detention.

Posted by Love Makes A Way on Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Now, continuing the group’s mission to have offshore detention centres shut down and all asylum seekers released into the Australian community, they’ve taken aim at our new Prime Minister. Holding banners and singing songs in shirts reading “Kids don’t belong in detention”, around 25 Love Makes A Way protesters have been holed up in Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney office all morning.

“We are here to welcome Mr Turnbull as our new Prime Minister, and to call on him to finally do something about the inhumane practice of mandatory detention, especially of children,” protester Justin Whelan said in a media statement this morning. “Today’s demonstration is an invitation for Mr Turnbull to put a mark on the pages of Australian history, one that future generations will look back on as the moment our national shame came to an end.”

Not too long into the protest, police were called to the site. But, instead of removing the group outright, they awkwardly hung around the sidelines for a couple of hours.

Though the Prime Minister is currently in Parliament in Canberra, the protest was very much aimed at him with many protesters drawing attention to his prior comments on the matter. When defending President of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs last year, the then-Communications Minister expressed compassion for those in our detention centres. Though he supported the Coalition’s policy on boat turnbacks, he also stated “one child in detention is one child too many” casting some doubt on the government’s current policy. “Everyone is anguished by having children locked up in detention,” he said.

Now that he’s in office, little has actually changed. Though Turnbull’s much more forthright in offering sympathy for those affected, he’s largely ignored passionate calls to use this as a turning point in policy. The only major change — that Nauru is now classified as an “open facility” — does little to help those from the larger threats of the community, where people have been beaten and sexually assaulted.

“Opening the Nauru detention centre is a small step in the right direction, but it’s still detention,” said Margaret Coffey, a 75-year-old retired nurse present at the protest. “The fences may come down but it remains an open air prison for people who have committed no crime.”

“We need less spin and more action,” added Bryon Smith, an assistant Anglican Minister. “What’s the point of eloquent words if we continue to institutionally abuse women, children, and men?”

After four hours of protest, the group have now packed up after being spoken to by police. In a parting message on their Facebook page, they pointed out that both the police and building manager thanked them for their “calm and peaceful manner”. This was done purposefully as a gesture to the Prime Minister.

“We want to give Mr Turnbull a chance to seize this opportunity to put an end to the national shame of offshore detention,” their final statement read.

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Meanwhile, Clive Palmer’s just taken up the issue with Turnbull in Question Time:

“Why are doctors prevented, under the government’s laws, from exposing or reporting sexual and mental abuse of children?” he said. “Which one of the honourable members of your government would allow their children to suffer much mistreatment, and which one of us would allow our children or grandchildren to be treated in the way the government treats children in detention?”

“Why is the government imprisoning and radicalising little children at taxpayer expense?”

According to reports from Huffington Post political editor Karen Barlow, government MPs responded by yelling “shame” and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton defended his position saying the number of children in detention was much higher under a Labor government.

Looking pretty frustrated, Clive then bailed on the whole thing.

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Feature image via Love Makes A Way/Flickr.